Adjustable bed or chair



Dec. 23, 1969 G. P. C. NIELSEN ADJUSTABLE BED OR CHAIR 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Oci. 2, 1967 Dec. 23, 1969 G. P. c. NIELSEN 3,484,878

ADJUSTABLE BED OR CHAIR Filed Oct. 2, 1967 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 United States Patent 5,340/6 Int. Cl. A47c 21/00 US. Cl. -327 10 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A bed or chair with a swingable back supporting surface having a loin rest adapted to be displaced in the longitudinal direction of the back, when the inclined position hereof is amended, the displacement being controlled by an arm one end of which is pivotally connected to the loin rest, whereas the other end is pivotally connected to the frame in front of the hinge axis of the swingable back. Preferably the pivot point of the arm is displaceable towards and away from the back by means of compulsorily controlled members, when the angular position of the back supporting surface is changed, so that a cycloid movement of the loin rest is obtained.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the invention The invention relates to an adjustable bed or chair with bearing surfaces, the mutual angular position of which can be changed arbitrarily and with a loin rest on one of the bearing surfaces to support the spine of the loin vertebrae.

Description of the prior art My US. Patent No. 3,289,222 relates to an adjustable bed or chair with supporting surfaces which are mounted on a frame and whose angular positions may be arbitrarily varied in relation to each other by swinging one surface, and with a lumbar support provided on the swingable supporting surface and serving to support the spinal column of the user opposite the lumbar vertebrae, the said lumbar support being adjustable by means of a transverse supporting member which is longitudinally displace,- able beneath the mattress of the bed or the cushion of the chair. The essential feature of the above mentioned patent is that linked connections between the swingable supporting surface and the frame of the bed or chair are connected with the supporting member in such manner that the said member will move upwards on the lumbar support when the supporting surface is swung upwards.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The object of the present invention is to devise a bed or a chair of the aforesaid kind in which the lumbar support may be displaced partly in simpler manner than described in the specification of the main patent, partly in such manner that the displacement, whenever it is necessary or desirable, may comparatively readily be effected in very close conformity with the displacement of the lumbar curvature which takes place when a person changes his position from lying to sitting, or conversely, the said movement being actually a cycloid movement since the center of rotation of the spinal column has no fixed position but is moving in the longitudinal direction of the person in accordance with the rolling movement performed by the lower vertebrae and the' coccyx when a person lays down or changes from lying to sitting position. Another object of the invention is to design the lumbar support in such manner that wearing the apparel of the person is not displaced in relation to his body when the back support is swung up or down, even though the user of the bed or chair fails to raise himself from the support ing surface during its adjustment.

The adjustable bed or chair according to the invention has the essential feature that the supporting member is pivotally connected to one end of a rigid arm which is pivotal at its other end about a point on the frame in front of the rotational axis of the swingable supporting surface.

It is thus possible to obtain the desired displacement of the lumbar support in simple and safe manner when the back supporting surface is raised and lowered, and it may be an additional advantage that the guide members for the lumbar support are not, or only to a slight extent, extending beneath the frame of the bed. It has been found that simple control of the movement of the lumbar support by means of an arm which is pivotal about a fixed point, for instance in a bracket, affords a movement of the supporting member which, although it is a circular movement, in many cases is sufficiently approximated to the ideal cycloid movement to permit the use of this simple form of control, for instance on chairs in which the back is only to be angularly adjusted over a limited area.

For beds and other furniture in which it is important that the lumbar support conforms as exactly as possible to the changes in the spinal curvature of the user, it is preferable according to the invention that the point of the frame about which the arm is swingable by means of compulsory control means is displaceable in the direction towards and away from the back supporting surface in dependence on the angular movement of the arm. By this design the point about which the supporting member is pivotal on the arm and consequently the surface of the said supporting member may be caused to perform a cycloid movement conforming substantially to the movement of the spinal column when the person is changing from lying to sitting position. The rack and pinion motion may, according to the invention, be effected by means of a toothed segment provided on the arm and cooperating with a rack provided on the frame. When the back support is raised or lowered, the toothed segment moves on the rack, by which the supporting point of the arm is displaced on the frame as desired, so that the point at which the arm rests on the supporting member and consequently the lumbar support perform a cycloid movement.

To keep the toothed segment and the rack in engagement with each other under all conditions, it is convenient according to the invention that the arm is carried by a pivot which is guided in a slit provided in a part in fixed connection with the frame. It will be appreciated that the slit and the rack need not be rectilinear, but that they may be of any arbitrary curved shape that may be found to produce an approximate cycloid movement coinciding with the lumbar curvature of the user.

According to the invention the arm rest may be connected with the arm either by a rigid connection or through a gearing. As a result, the arm rest may, for example, cooperate in adjusting the back supporting surface and in all inclined positions of the said support be caused to adopt a position that is convenient to the user. The arm may also according to the invention be cranked in such manner as to extend beneath the surface of the swingable supporting surface so as to involve a minimum of inconvenience in furniture in Which it cannot, for example, be concealed in the upholstery beneath the arm of the chair.

According to the invention it is also proposed to form the swingable supporting surface in such manner that it consists of a part hinged below and a part which is displaceable in the longitudinal direction of the hinged part has a built-in lumbar support. This design provides a simplified bed or chair, since the special supporting member sliding beneath a resilient supporting surface such as a plate of lamellae is dispensed with. Another important advantage obtained is that when the back supporting surface is raised or lowered, there will be no relative displacement between the said surface and the body of the person using the bed or chair. This means in other words that during the adjustment the clothes of such person are not subjected to any tension with consequent displacement and creasing of the clothes, even though the user, for example a patient, fails to raise from the support during the adjustment.

According to the invention also a cushion for the back of the head and adjustable in known manner in the longitudinal direction of the back supporting surface may be adapted to be fastened to the combined lumbar support and back supporting surface in such manner as to follow the movements of the said surface, by which after-adjustment of the said cushion corresponding to every inclined position is superfluous, once the cushion has been adjusted to the person concerned.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING The invention will now be described in detail with reference to the drawing, which shows diagrammatically various embodiments of control means for displacement of the lumbar support of an adjustable bed or chair according to the invention and in which FIGURE 1 shows a part of a bed, the lumbar support of which is moved along a circle of an arc by adjustment of the back supporting surface,

FIGURE 2 is a corresponding representation of a bed, the lumbar support of which moves along a cycloid by adjustment of the back supporting surface, and

FIGURES 3-5 show modifications of the embodiments shown in FIGURES 2 and 3, respectively, and of the embodiment shown in the drawing of the main patent.

The embodiments illustrated all have a frame 1 which rests on legs and supports a frame 2 defining seat supporting surface, and a swingable frame 3 defining a back supporting surface which is hinged to the said frame 2 and is adjustable in various inclined positions by means of a clamp 4 cooperating with teeth provided in the frame 1 or in other arbitrary manner, for example by hydraulic or electric means. In the embodiments shown in FIG- URES 1 and 2 the back supporting surface 3 has, similar to the design according to my US. Patent 3,289,222, a number of longitudinal lamellae 5, some of which are supported by eccentrics 8 mounted in a supporting member in the form of a transverse shaft so that the said lamellae may be adjusted individually, corresponding to the lumbar curvature of the user. The supporting member is carried by a slide 10 which is displaceable in the longitudinal direction of the supporting surface 3.

In the embodiment shown in FIGURE 1, the slide 10 is guided by an arm 6 pivotal at its opposite end about a pivot 7 which is in fixed connection with the frame 1 and which in the embodiment shown is located on a bracket 9. The arm 6 has a number of holes so that it is possible to make individual adjustment of the location of the supporting member on the supporting surface. The simple design shown may be advantageous for use in an adjustable chair or bed where it is no requirement that there must be possible for a user to sit transversely of its longitudinal direction as, for example, on a couch or sofa. It will be appreciated that the arm 6,may also be made with a downward pointing crank so that it is less prominent and, for example, it may be concealed in the upholstery or the like. In chairs, in which the back only has to be adjusted over a limited angle, this simple form of control of the lumbar support may be used with advantage.

In the embodiment shown in FIGURE 2 the arm 6 is substituted by an arm 11 having a toothed segment 12 in engagement with a rack 13 provided on the bracket 9', by which the movement of the arm 11, when the back supporting surface is swung up or down, will be a controlled rolling during which it simultaneously produces a rotary and a translatory movement. The result obtained is that such end of the arm 11 as is pivotably connected to the displaceable slide 10 traces a cycloid orif the rack i slightly curveda cycloid-like curve which may be brought into close conformity with the anatomical and geometrical requirements of an appropriately compulsorily controlled lumbar support. The displacement of the center of rotation of the arm 11 may also be assumed to be produced in other manner, for example by means of gearwheels on the pivot 14 of the arm. In the embodiment illustrated the pivot 14 is guided in a slit 15 provided in the bracket 9' so that the teeth of the tooth segment and of the rack are always kept in safe engagement with each other. In FIGURES 2 and 4 another position of the circular arc-shaped end of the arm is indicated by a dotted line.

Furthermore, as indicated by dotted lines in FIGURES 1 and 2, an arm rest may be fixed on the arm 6 or 11, respectively, or may be in connection with the same through a gearing so that the arm rest follows the turning of the arm at the same or at a different angular velocity, respectively, by which the arm may be utilized to cooperate in the adjustment or be brought into the position that is most convenient at each particular inclined position of the supporting surface.

In the embodiment shown in FIGURES 35, which are modifications of the embodiments described herein above and those disclosed in said patent, the swingable back supporting surface consists of a part 16 hinged at its lower end to frame 2 and a part 17 which is displaceable in the longitudinal direction of'the part 16 and replaces the supporting member 8 and the displaceable slide 10, said parts 16 and 17 consituting a unit with built-in lumbar support 18. In the drawing, the displaceable part is shown with upholstering and with a cushion 19 for the back of the head, the said cushion being individually adjustable in a manner not shown. When the said cushion is adjusted to suit the user, it follows, together with the back support, and the lumbar support the movements of the displaceable part, compulsorily guided by changes in the angle of inclination of the back supporting surface. It will be appreciated that the lumbar support, back support and head support need not necessarily be upholstered, but may be constituted by any known supporting means adapted to the human anatomy. Since the back supporting surface 17 with lumbar support 18 and head cushion 19 close follows the movements of the body during adjustment of the supporting surface, there will be no displacement of the users clothes in relation to the body, even though the person resting on the supporting surface does not raise himself during the adjustment. Since the displacement of the body in relation to the supporting surface is normally of the order of about 12 cm., when the person changes from a fully lying to a sitting position, it is an essential advantage that this displacement is prevented, in particular in the case of beds for patients who are unable to rise by themselves.

The means for displacement of the lumbar support consists in the embodiment shown in FIGURES 5 of a telescope link 11 turning about a point 12 on a downwardly directed arm 13 of the frame, the said link 11 being connected with a link 14 which is pivotable about a point on a downwardly directed arm 15 provided on the part 16.

I claim:

1. An article of furniture comprising a back frame and a seat frame, said frames being connected together for pivotal movement, a support member slidably supported on said back frame, means on said back frame and defining a bearing surface which is supported on the support member, and linkage means coupling-said frames and the support member to displace the support member on said back frame in Correspondence with the degree of pivotal movement of the frames, said linkage means comprising an arm having opposite ends, means pivotably connecting one of said ends of the arm to said support member, and means connecting the other of the ends of said arm to the seat frame, such that the arm is connected at its ends to the support member and the seat frame on opposite sides of the location where the frames are connected together for pivotal movement.

2. An article of furniture as claimed in claim 1 wherein said means which connects said other end of the arm to said seat frame comprises a connection member secured to said other end of the arm and mounted for slidable movement towards and away from said back frame as the frames undergo pivotable movement.

3. An article of furniture as claimed in claim 1 wherein said means which connects said other end of the arm to said seat frame comprises a toothed segment on said other end of the arm and a rack fixedly secured to said seat frame and engaged with said toothed segment.

4. An article of furniture as claimed in claim 3 wherein said means which connects said other end of the arm to said seat frame comprises a connection member secured to said other end of the arm and mounted for slidable movement towards and away from said back frame as the frames undergo pivotable movement.

5. An article of furniture as claimed in claim 1 comprising an arm rest secured to said arm for movement therewith.

6. An article of furniture as claimed in claim 3 wherein said means defining the bearing surface is fixedly and adjustably mounted on the support member.

7. An article of furniture as claimed in claim 6 wherein said supporting member is telescopically mounted on the back frame.

8. An article of furniture comprising a back frame and a seat frame, said frames being connected together for pivotal movement, a support member slidably supported on said back frame, means on said back frame and defining a bearing surface which is supported on the support member, and linkage means coupling said frames and the support member to displace the support member on said back frame in correspondence with the degree of pivotal movement of the frames, said means defining the bearing surface being fixedly mounted on the support member for displacement therewith.

9. An article of furniture as claimed. in claim 8 wherein said linkage means comprises an arm having opposite ends, means pivotably connecting one of said ends of the arm to said support member, and means connecting the other of the ends of said arm to the seat frame, such that the arm is connected at its ends to the support member and the seat frame on opposite sides of the location where the frames are connected together for pivotal movement.

10. An article of furniture as claimed in claim 8 wherein said supporting member is telescopically mounted on the back frame.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,289,222 12/1966 Nielsen 5327 2,942,651 6/ 1960 Binding 297--353 XR 2,863,495 12/1958 Knabusch et al. 297353 XR 2,152,734 4/1939 Ford 5327 XR BOBBY R. GAY, Primary Examiner ANDREW M. CALVERT, Assistant Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 297353 

